50 Ways to Protect Your Identity in a Digital Age: New Financial Threats You Need to Know and How to Avoid Them, Second Edition

19. Medical Identity Theft

Medical identity theft, as a specific variation of identity theft, is still relatively unknown by the general public, but it can be the most dangerous form of identity theft of all because it not only, as with most forms of identity theft, affects your finances, but also can affect your health. It can even cause you to receive improper medical treatment as a result of incorrect information contained in your medical records due to the actions of the medical identity thief. It can also cause you to be dropped by your medical insurance provider or to pay an increased premium.

Big Problem

According to the Ponemon Institute’s Second Annual Survey on Medical Identity Theft in 2011 almost 1.5 million people became victims ...